r/slp • u/Penny-Popper • 1d ago
Discussion At home practice?
How do you all handle home practice actually getting done?
Been thinking a lot about the between-session gap lately. I send home practice, parents nod, and then… I have no real idea what happened until the next session. Sometimes it’s obvious they practiced, sometimes it clearly didn’t happen, and a lot of the time I honestly can’t tell
Curious how others approach this:
• What do you actually send home (worksheets, apps, word lists, recordings)?
• Do you have any way of knowing if/how they practiced, or is it mostly trust + what you see in session?
• How much do you factor home practice into how you plan the next session?
• Anything that’s actually moved the needle on carryover, or is it just the eternal SLP struggle?
Peds, artic/phono caseload mostly. Feel like I’ve tried a bunch of things and nothing sticks. Would love to hear what’s working (or not) for other people
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u/peaceful_nursery 1d ago
the eternal struggle for sure. i stopped sending worksheets years ago, parents just toss em or the kid shoves them in a backpack abyss
what actually moved the needle for me was 2-minute drills with a tiny reward loop. i send a 30-second video of the kid doing the target sound in session, text it to the parent right there, and say "do this once before dinner, takes literally 2 minutes". the video shows them exactly what to do and the kid gets a sticker next session if they did it at least 3 times that week
it's not foolproof but the ones who actually do it show way faster progress. the ones who don't, i can usually tell within 30 seconds of the next session anyway
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u/Select-Signature9243 1d ago
You would be better off by performing part of a session in front of them and coaching them. If they can’t bother to do that for 15 minutes, I don’t think they care much what’s going on ultimately. 🤷♂️
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u/Dazzling_Elderberry4 1d ago
I only send home materials/practice is the parents request it. Similar to what other posters said, often not much gets done at home… even the parents that request it frequently have a hard time maintaining regular practice outside of tx. I try to be gracious though. I think they mean well, life just gets busy and kids don’t love it. Even if I try and gamify for them. Also I remember as a kid I had an especially hard time taking feedback from my parents versus other adult instructors.
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u/Penny-Popper 11h ago
Yeah did you ever use applications to gamify it?
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u/Dazzling_Elderberry4 5h ago
I don’t know of an application that kids could use at home… at least not like a free one. I’ve used some different apps during tx, but both cost $$ and have a login.
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u/Remote-Honey-603 1d ago
I started out having speech folders and sending home practice sheets. It was something we had done during speech time. Very few parents participated, so I quit that. I only did practice materials if they were requested. I had a lot of life skills students and tried to integrate their goals into the classroom setting with paras and teachers .
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u/just-a-girl-rh 15h ago
I used to do it when I first started but I quickly realized most families did not do it, and I didn’t feel like it made a huge difference in the ones that did. If a parent specifically requests it I’ll try to send something once or twice a month but even then I usually forget and it fades out over time tbh. I feel it’s a lot of work for little payoff. If I had a caseload of 50 or less I’d be much more inclined to send homework more often, but at 70+ students, no thank you.
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u/htxslp 11h ago
I’m in a pediatric private clinic and I definitely give homework, whether it be a worksheet or suggestions for activities to do during their daily routine. If parents/caregivers don’t have the child complete them, then…🤷🏾♀️ I used to get frustrated about it but nowadays, I just rest with the fact that I tried.
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u/luviabloodmire 7h ago
• I send home nothing. They need home time and family time.
•I don’t know. Not on my radar.
•Zero.
•I try my best to make what I’m doing relevant. I get their speech peers involved. I provide incentives and challenges.
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u/Neither-Solid-6573 1d ago
I made homework for kids my first few years. Families can barely return the speech folder and communication sheet. I had one parent say her kid wasn’t seen by any therapist — meanwhile I sent a note home in the students folder each week. She never bothering looking. I stopped wasting my time; if their kid’s performance isn’t a priority to them, it is just an aspect of my job for me and it’s not like we’re financially incentivized by student performance. If a family asks for homework targeting something specific, I’ll send it.